Blood and Love and Something Else
by Kelip-Kelip
Summary: Raph finds a girl beaten up, bleeding, rambling about the Princess of Monaco and not seeming to notice that he is a mutant... what the SHELL? RaphxOC, R&R please!
1. Help me, please!

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. I'm just using them out of love.**

**BLOOD AND LOVE AND SOMETHING ELSE**

**Chapter 1: Help me, please!**

Raph was speeding down the streets of New York on top of the Shell Cycle. He loved these moments. When he could get away from his family – who, as much as he loved, could really get on his nerves sometimes –, get on his motorcycle, and just ride, ride, ride.

The streets were relatively empty that night. There was not much gang activity either, and the few bastards that thought that it was a good night to rob the local jewellery store, well, they were taken care of. He smiled darkly at the thought of the three goons, now hanging upside down from a street lamp, waiting for a police car to find them during its night patrol.

He made a right turn at the docks and the sea came into his line of sight. He felt the wind against his body, and the smell of the sea. He loved these moments, because he felt so… free. He wondered if they, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would ever live in a world where the word "freedom" would actually mean being able to do whatever they wanted, without having to worry about being seen. A world where they would be _accepted_.

Raph was so caught up with the speeding, the wind, the smells, and his thoughts, that he only noticed the girl stumbling in front of his bike at the last minute. He pulled on the brakes as hard as he could, swerving the bike and narrowly missing her, skidding to a stop only a few inches from her.

"WHAT THE FUCK! LADY, WATCH WHERE YA…" his eyes grew wide as he got a good look at the girl. "Holy shell!" She looked awful. Her clothes were torn and bloody, her face blue and purple from being beaten, blood smeared at the edge of her lips, and her hair was messy tangle with blood sticking her hair together on one side of her head.

"Help me, please!" she pleaded.

Raph was torn. She couldn't see his face because of his helmet, and she looked too disoriented to notice the rest of his green body and shell. Still, if he helped her she would eventually notice that he was not human, and he didn't think she would be too happy to encounter a mutant turtle in this state of mind. Hell, most people would not take meeting a mutant turtle too well in _any_ state of mind.

"Lady, I don't think…"

"Please, you got to take me to the Embassy of Monaco!"

"The what??" Raph looked at the blood in her hair, and quickly concluded that she must have gotten a pretty hard blow to the head as well. _She probably has a concussion, maybe she is hallucinating. Probably has no idea of what she is talking about. _He made up his mind. He couldn't leave her here alone, not like this. "Forget it lady, I'm taking you to a hospital… now!"

"NO!" the girl suddenly grabbed his arm with surprising force. Raph looked down at her hand on his arm, and then back to meet her eyes. "Please… this is a matter of life and death! If you don't help me, they're gonna kill her!

"Kill who?!"

"No time to explain… please!" There was something in the girls' pleading eyes that Raph couldn't resist.

"Fine… but afterwards, you're going to a hospital!" Maybe this wasn't too bad. She looked too upset to notice his mutant form, and the people at the Embassy, whatever the reason she wanted to go there, would probably take care of her.

The girl looked relieved. She took the extra helmet from Raph, and got on the bike behind him. "Umm… I guess you can tell me about this later" she said as she lightly touched his shell, before wrapping her arms around his body, leaning all of hers on his back.

Raph tensed. It wasn't only the fact that she noticed his shell and didn't seem to freak out about it – something that could have been attributed to her concussion – but he could feel the warmth of her body against his back and her breathing on his neck, which sent chills up his spine.

"Hang on" he said unnecessarily, as he started up the engines and raced down the road he came from just minutes ago.

The thoughts were racing in his mind. Who was she? What had happened to her? And who was the other girl that would get killed? And where the heck were they going??

"Hey, you know where this place is?" he yelled as he turned his head back slightly to hear her answer.

"I think they said it was on 42nd street!" she shouted back.

"Who are 'they'?"

"Do you have a cell phone?" she answered his question with a question.

Raph thought about it for a minute. He was not happy about having to give his Shell Cell to a stranger. "Who are you calling?"

"911!"

Raph sighed. "Here!"

She took the phone that he had taken from his belt, and dialled the number. Her helmet was muffling her voice, and the noises of the bike and the wind were not helping either, but Raph could still hear most of what she was saying.

"Hello? I have an emergency. I have been kidnapped." She stopped to listen to what the operator had to say. "No, I escaped, but there is another girl. I know where she is, but you have to hurry up before he takes her to another location!" She listened some more. "No she's not my friend but I know who she is. She is the Princess of Monaco."

Raph grunted. What has he gotten himself into?!

"No, it's not a joke!" the girl's desperate voice had risen an octave. "Of course they wouldn't report it to the police, the kidnapper said he would kill her if they did!" Another pause. "No you don't understand… hello? Hello!? AAARRRGHHH!"

Raph hit the breaks and stopped on the side of the road. He turned around to see the girl take off her helmet while shouting at the dead phone through tears of frustration, using four-letter-words that were even out of HIS league.

"All right, calm down, chill!" he took the phone from her hands as she stopped shouting and put her hands up to her face. Suddenly she looked so vulnerable and weak. _I guess the adrenalin that kept her going just ran out._

"Come on, don't cry" he said meekly, not sure what to do with a sobbing female who had just been kidnapped and beaten up. He put a wavering hand on her shoulder. Unfortunately, this seemed to make matters worse, because the girl just started sobbing even harder, lunging herself into his arms. Raph felt his face heat up, but wrapped his arms around her, trying to soothe her.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, the girl crying in his arms, whilst Raph was just feeling plain uncomfortable. He didn't know what to do with her. He wasn't Donnie, the sensitive one, or Mike, who could make anyone smile with one of his stupid jokes. Shell, even Leo could handle this girl better, being the cool-headed leader that he was. Raph knew how to beat someone up, not how to console a girl who had been beaten up by someone. He didn't know what to do. Plus, she made him feel nervous, but in a good way, and that made him feel even more uncomfortable. _Shell, I don't have time to be dealing with my raging teenage hormones!_ Raph was trying real hard to steady his heart beat, which – strangly enough – was beating about a hundred miles per hour.

Finally, the girl seemed to pull herself together. "I'm sorry."

"Err… you don't have to apologize…" Raph was trying to steer the conversation into less uncomfortable waters. "Tell me what happened, I can help."

"But… what can you do if the police won't help?"

Raph chuckled quietly. "Trust me, the police are mostly incompetent clowns. It's better if we leave them out of this."

The girl made a small smile at his comment. "Well, that might be true. But we still have to go to the Embassy of Monaco…"

"Why?" Raph interrupted.

"Because the man who kidnapped me has the Princess of Monaco, and is demanding a ransom from the Embassy. I know where she is being held, but we have to hurry, because the kidnappers know I have escaped, and they will probably move her to another place!"

Raph was not sure if the whole princess-business was true, but there was no reason why she would lie about this. In any case, if _anyone _else was kidnapped, he would have to help. Plus, couldn't help but think of how brave she was. Once she escaped, her first thought was not her own safety or health, but that she had to save another girl whom she seemed to have never met before.

"If we go to the Embassy, chances are the kidnappers will have already taken off by the time help gets there. Tell me where this place is and I'll take care of it."

The girl seemed to think about that for a moment. "All right. But you have to take me with you."

"What?! No way, you need to get to a hospital and if they find you there…"

"It's an abandoned warehouse and I don't even know the address" she interrupted. "Besides, if you're going in there alone, you need someone to tell you the best ways to move around to avoid being caught. They held me there too… I know the place."

Raph hesitated. In the condition she was, she would only hinder him. And the longer she was with him, the more chance there was that she would find out that he wasn't human. And _then_ things could get really messy.

"Come on, we don't have time to discuss this!" she urged him. "If you don't take me, I can't show you the place!"

"Fine…" he said. He didn't like it, but there was no other way.

The girl smiled widely, or as wide as her bruises let her smile get. "I'm Sally" she held out her hand.

"Raphael." He shook her hand.

"Strange name. So, Raphael," she put her helmet back on "head North on West street. I'll tell you where to turn."

"Call me Raph. And by the way…" he started the engines, "… I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle." He hit the gas pedal giving the girl no time for a reaction other than holding on tight to what she now knew was his shell.


	2. Big Mistake

**Chapter 2:**** Big mistake**

Raph circled the building until he found an ideal place where he could hide the Shell Cycle in the shadows. As he parked the motorcycle, Sally took the opportunity to jump off the vehicle, removing her helmet and holding it in a way that she could use it as a weapon – if worst came to worst.

"What?" Raph grunted, as he got off the cycle. Sally repositioned herself so that the red bike was between the two of them.

"Remove your helmet." She said.

Raph grunted again, but complied. He had already told her he was a mutant turtle, no point in hiding behind a "mask" anymore.

Sally gasped, as she saw his face, and tightened her grip on the helmet. "Do you remember the last thing you said to me before we came here?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

"That I'mma Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? Yeah…" he arched his brows.

"Would you care… to elaborate on that?" she asked, her voice trembling only a slight bit.

"Look, lady, I appreciate that it's hard t'see a giant mutant turtle, but if yer not completely nuts, and there _is_ another girl kidnapped, we gotta hurry up here…"

She seemed to realize that he was right and they did not have time for this, but she was still suspicious about him.

"Look, when I was a kid-turtle, I was affected by some ooze that turned me and my bros into mutants that talk, think, and kick some serious shell. Now, if you would just show me which way t'go…"

The girl lowered the helmet in her surprise. "You got _brothers_?!"

"Geez will ya give it a rest? Long story, no time!"

"Hmphm… you're right" She hesitated. "You're not gonna hurt me?"

"Are ya serious? You just got kidnapped and beaten up by a bunch of thugs of _your_ species, and yer askin' _me_ if Im gonna hurt ya?"

The girl allowed herself a half-smile. "Good point." She turned and pointed to one of the buildings. "That's it."

"All right. You stay here, while Imma…"

"Stay here? No way! I'm commin with ya. Besides, I know a side entrance…"

Raph sighed. This was gonna be a _long _night.

"Fine. But you gotta stay behind me, and do as I tell ya. And keep quiet!"

The two of them made their way through the shadows to the abandoned warehouse. The place seemed quiet. _Too quiet is what Leo would say…_ They circled the building and true enough, there was a door where Sally said it would be. Raph took out his sais, and gingerly pushed on the door, which opened with a noisy _creek_. Raph froze, but he could hear nothing but the air being pushed through the ventilation shafts.

"I think you gotta…"

"SHHHHHH! I told ya to be quiet! And stay outside… I'll take a look around…"

"No way! I'm coming with ya, I know the…"

"Dammit women, stop arguing! Yer just as stubborn as…" …_as I am_, he thought, but he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he gave out a sigh. If they were gonna argue on this here, someone might hear them. "Just follow me and shut up."

They made their way down a dark hall. Raph could feel his heart racing. Not only that, but he could feel Sally's heart racing as well. Apparently, the girl had decided that turtle was not a threat to her after all, and in the hope that he would be more likely to defend her, she had drawn so close to him that he could feel her body's warmth on his shell. And her scent… it reminded him of summer nights at Casey's grandma's house. That is, not including the smell of blood.

It was because of these thoughts that Raph had been so distracted that he completely missed the figures moving in the shadows. And because of that, it was easy enough to ambush them once the two reached the middle of a large storage room.

They came out of nowhere. Raph didn't even notice until he heard Sally's muffled cry behind him. They were Purple Dragons.

There must have been about forty or fifty of them. Not too bad, if he had his brothers. But they were not there. Raph silently cursed under his breath, knowing that he should have called them. He had decided against it though, in case it turned out that there was no kidnapping, and the girl was just a regular garden-variety nutso. _Big mistake_.

The thugs had surrounded him in a circle, and one of them had grabbed Sally by her arms, laughing sadistically as she kicked about yelling. _No escape route._

"Well, well, well…" came the voice that Raph knew and loathed. "What do we have here?" The Purple Dragons had opened way for their leader to stand in front of the turtle.

"Hun…" Raph hissed.

"Why, it's one of the green freaks!" Hun grinned as his goons were laughing hysterically around him.

Hun's gaze wondered over to where Sally was being held by his men.

"Why, I don't believe it!" he cried with faked surprise. He glanced at the turtle, and his evil grin spread even more as he looked back at the girl. "Looks like you're serving as bait twice tonight, sweety!" His cruel laugh made the Sally's blood freeze.

"What da… bait? You were BAIT?!" Hun's words made Raph's blood boil. _Princess of Monaco? Kidnapping? How could ya have been so FUCKIN' stupid? Pretty girls don't just stumble in front of your Shell Cycle asking for help!_

"No! Raph, I didn't…! Mph…" Sally's words were muted by a hand that covered her mouth, and she was dragged away. Not that Raph was listening. His rage got the best of him. He couldn't hear nor see anything other than the Purple Dragons in front of him.

He attacked with an enraged scream. The fury had given him more strength and power. He jumped nito the crowd of Purple Dragons, frantically stabbing his sai into whoever got in his way. He could feel the warm blood of the goons around him running down his arms every time his sai plunged deep into flesh. He kicked and stabbed and slashed, not stopping for a minute, blood and sweat running down his green body.

He was furious at Hun and the Purple Dragons for setting him up. He was furious at Sally for bating him. He was furious at himself for being attracted to her, and thus making himself an easy target.

In the end however, not even all that fury was enough to win against so many of them. Someone kicked one of his sais out of his hand, and he dropped another one when he was hit in the guts with so much force that he fell forward, with the wind knocked out of his lungs. He scrambled to his feet, but then one of the Purple Dragons came at him with a knife, and all he could feel was the pain of the blade cutting into his flesh, before the world turned black around him.

**I didn't mention this before, but thank you to all who are reading my fic! And because I am a new – and so a terribly insecure – author, please, please, PLEASE leave a review! It will keep me going! :)**


	3. Explain

**A BIG thanks to all those who reviewed. All the comments were very helpful, and I hope helped to make this one and even better chapter :) **

**And please don't forget to review (again)! **

**Chapter 2: Explain.**

_It was dark. Pitch dark. __A tunnel. And at the end of the tunnel, a bright light. All Raph could see was the light, which seemed to be so impossibly far away. He knew, he didn't know how, but he knew that he had to go towards the light. It was his only salvation. He started walking. It was strange, it didn't feel like walking. More like… hovering._

_He reached the light surprisingly quickly. In fact, he didn't even remember getting through the darkness. He crossed what seemed to be a giant gate, and everything around him suddenly became so bright that he couldn't see a thing. He squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust. And that's when he saw him._

_One of his brothers. Lying on the floor. Motionless. Lifeless. In a pool of blood._

_He tried to scream, but no sound came out of his throat. He tried running towards him, but suddenly it became so hard to move. He could feel the tears erupting from his eyes, tears of fear, of desperation, of sorrow. _

_As he approached the green body on the floor, he could slowly make out more and more of the scene. The pool of blood. The knife sticking out of the body. And the bandana. _

_The bandana… i__t couldn't be! Horrified, Raph looked at the face of the turtle lying in front of him, a misshapen expression of pain on his face. _

_H__is own face._

Raph woke up with a startle, breathing heavily. It was dark around him. Dark, and cold.

What happened? Did he die? If that was the case, this certainly wasn't heaven.

The throbbing headache, however, assured him that he was still very much alive. And in pain.

So then, was that just a dream? He tried to remember what happened. He was fighting the Purple Dragons, and Hun. And the girl… _the girl_.

All the anger he felt earlier came rushing back, the feeling exacerbated by the defeat he had just remembered.

He tried to sit up to look around, and cried out in pain at the sharp ache in his left shoulder as he tried to lean on his arm.

"Thank god, I thought you were dead!" Sally was standing a few feet away, with a concerned look on her face. "Watch out, you have been stabbed in your arm. I managed to bandage the wound with a piece of my shirt, but I'm not sure…ARGH…"

She didn't even see the turtle as he jumped up with surprising speed, slamming her against the wall, and grabbing her by the neck with his good arm.

"You_ tricked _me_…_" he hissed, lifting her so her feet were dangling a few inches from the floor.

"Grgh…" The girl could not answer. In fact, she couldn't even breathe, with Raph's hand tightly wrapped around her throat.

Raph's eyes were almost visibly flaming with fury. "Give me a reason..."

The pressure of the turtle's hand was pressing every ounce of air out of her body… she was slowly turning blue.

Sally tried to struggle against the turtle's grip, but he was holding on to her. And he didn't even know how tight. Raph was blinded by his anger, and the girl realized that he might not let go any time soon. Not before she ran out of air, anyways.

Finally, Sally gathered all her remaining strength and before she took her last breath, she kicked the turtle as hard as she could in the shins.

Raph dropped her with painful cry. Sally collapsed on the floor, one hand holding herself up, the other on her throat, coughing and gasping for air.

"We're… *cough, cough*… on the… same side…*gasp*… you FUCKIN' IDIOT!" she managed to get some air to her lungs, but the three fingers of the turtle were painted in red on her neck.

"OH YEAH? THEN WHY DID YA BAIT ME?!"

"I DIDN'T BAIT YOU!"

"Oh, RIGHT, so you just HAPPENED to be kidnapped by Hun, and it was only a COINCIDENCE that you ran into me and asked for my help, and then lured me back here, TO GET ATTACKED BY AN ARMY OF PURPLE DRAGONS?"

"Look around you, MORON, do you think I'd be in a cell with you IF I WAS WORKING FOR THE PURPLE DRAGONS???"

They were standing in front of each other, hands in fists, ready to launch themselves at each other. But they didn't. They both fell silent, panting, each holding the other's gaze.

Raph was trying to decide whether to believe her or not. His anger hadn't completely subsided, but he could see the girl's point.

Sally didn't want to fight. She knew she would loose. But she didn't want to let her guard down either, in case the psycho turtle would aim for her throat again.

In the end, Sally was the first to relax her stance. She straightened up and turned slightly away from the turtle, crossing her arms on her chest. "Besides, I didn't ask for your help." She said quietly. Raph heard her, and groaned angrily. "You offered it." She added quickly.

Raph groaned again. He decided to postpone the fight for the time being. He leaned against the wall behind him, and crossed his arms, never letting the girl out of his sight.

"All right. Explain." He said simply.

Sally let out a huge sigh she didn't even know she was holding. She started pacing back and forth in the cell.

"It all started yesterday evening. I was going home, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I was thinking about this really good friend whose birthday is coming up, and I don't know what to get him, you know? Something special, but not special that says "I want to date you" just something special that says "I love you… as a friend". And you know it's so hard to get presents for guys, especially when they're good friends. Oh hey, maybe you could…" Sally looked over at Raph whose blood pressure was visibly going up.

"Sorry, short attention span" she laughed nervously.

"Stick to the point."

"Right. The point. So I was walking through central park, and as I said, I wasn't paying attention, which is really bad, especially if you're going through Central Park, cuz there's a lot of weirdoes there, but I bet you would know that…"

Raph grunted loudly. And menacingly.

"Ok, fine, fine. Bottom line is, this black limo pulls up and this huge guy pulls me into the car before I could say Jack Robinson."

Raph arched an eyebrow. He knew he was in deep shit, but heck, this girl was amusing him. Even though he would NEVER let her know that.

"Right, maybe I should skip ahead. So I was knocked out, brought back here, thrown into a cell just like this. Some time later – I don't know how long I was out – they brought this girl as well… and she looked JUST LIKE ME! And turns out, she was the Princess of Monaco!"

"You GOTTA be kiddin' me…" Raph couldn't believe that she was still on this nonsense.

"No, im tellin' ya, it's true! Just hear me out!"

Raph smirked, but let her go on.

"What happened was that she was their real target. They kidnapped her to get a shit load of money for her ransom. They were talking about buying some super weapon thingy, and they needed the money for that."

"So why did they need ya?" Raph frowned.

"Because I looked so much like her! You know how in movies the government is always saying 'we don't negotiate with terrorists'?" she said in a mock deep voice. "Well, it's not just the movies. They knew that if they asked for the money, the Princess's father would call the FBI, and they would tell him not to negotiate with the Purple Dragons. So that's why they needed me."

"Why?"

"Because Hun thought that if they execute me, the princess's father would be devastated, because he would think that they had just killed his daughter. Then, if they reveal that it wasn't actually the Princess, there would be no way that he would risk the life of his daughter again, knowing what it feels like to loose her. And then he would give them the money – no matter how much they were asking for!"

Raph's eyes opened wide. He vowed that if he ever got his hands on Hun again, he would not let him leave in one piece.

"That's why the roughed my face up" Sally added quietly. "In case someone realized that I didn't look _exactly _like the Princess."

Raph wasn't sure if it was wise to believe her, but something in his gut told him that the whole twisted story was true. And it sickened him.

He looked at the girl who was watching the floor intently, averting his gaze. He knew she was struggling not to cry. His eyes stopped on the red mark of his fingers on her neck.

The sudden wave of remorse and guilt that hit him was agonizing. He stepped closer to her, and carefully reached for her neck.

She flinched when he reached out for her, but realized he did not want to hurt her. She let him shyly touch her neck.

"I…I'm sorry…" he whispered.

She looked into his eyes. She didn't realize it, but they were… captivating. She raised her hand and touched his on her neck. She looked at their hands, and then back into his eyes. There really was something in those eyes that was almost hypnotizing her.

Raph was feeling the delicate skin under his large hands, and he was looking deep into her beautiful green eyes. His heart started beating faster. And this time, it wasn't anger, or adrenalin, or fear. It was something else. He leaned closer…

SLAP!

The cell echoed from the blow.

"WHADDA…!" Raph cried taking a step back, holding his red cheek, on which each and every little finger on Sally's hand was clearly discernable.

"_Now_ we're even." Sally said with a smug smile, even though she had been careful to take a step away from the turtle, in case he decided to go loco again.

Raph was standing dumbfounded. There was nothing in him from the feelings of a few seconds ago. Instead, he just didn't know what to do. He was too surprised to even be angry.

Sally was worried she might have pushed the turtle too far. She sighed when she saw the little smile emerge on his face.

"You deserved it" she said.

"I did" he said. "But if you EVER do that again, I'll break one of your fingers" he added, grinning.

"Fair enough" she said laughing nervously, not least because she wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or not. "So. We need a plan to get out of here."

"That's not gonna be that easy" Raph's face instantly grew sombre. "Even if we could get out of this cell, I couldn't do much with just one arm" he pointed at his injured shoulder.

"Hey, you can't give up on me!" Sally grabbed his good shoulder. "Look, I already got out once. We'll find a way out!"

Raph smiled at her optimism. This girl… she really was something.

"Besides," she smirked "just consider the silver lining!"

"And what's that?"

"They stabbed you in the left arm, and I noticed that you're right-handed!" She smiled.

"Babe, that's a _very_ thin lining."


End file.
